1- Keep in mind that your GN will take at least 1 year to complete if
not more.
2- If you have a series of graphic novels in mind, you might want to have
book 2 ready for sale, and be working on book 3 before you sell book 1

Pre-production phaseThe pre-production phase can be broken
down into 3 distinct blocks

Block A:
the story

Block B
character design

Block C
environments and color range

These 3 blocks should be worked on simultaneously.

--

Let the character design influence the story. Story and
dialog can influence certain visual sequences. Environments and color
range can inspire a dramatic shift of events in the story, etc...

In the end, with these 3 building blocks you will create the rough draft
of your graphic novel (step 2).

Block AThe story

Organising your ideas

Sources of Inspiration

Create a W diagram of the whole story arch
This is an event driven version of the story. What event happens when
and in what order.
If you have a series of novels in mind, you might want to write a quick
outline of the whole story arch before starting your first novel. In the
case of Nemexar I planned out a story arch of 33 chapters.

Create a W diagram of character evolution
This is a character driven version of the story. How the character reacts
to the events in the story and evolves because of them.

Sometimes the character comes first. And then you get an
idea for the story. But keep in mind, the story is more important than
the character design. Of course, if you have an interesting character
design, readers will be more easily attracted to your Gn. But readers
walk away from nice looking characters with uninteresting stories.

What makes a good character desing? Honestly, I don't know. You can check
out some personal observations in my elements of
desing page

Extra tip: sculpture

Sometimes it helps to have a 3d representation of your character. Sculptures
come in really handy when drawing a character in a very specific angle
or when its time to do shading. The sculpt doesn't have to be perfect.
Just enough detail to help you figure out where everything goes. Cloth
on a 12 inch articulated action figure is great when it comes to drawing
drapery. Check out my sculpture section for more tips.

Block C
Environments and color range

Environments:
Create conceptual images of buildings and places where the story takes
place. Sometimes you might need quick 3d representations of these.

Color range: what colors will be used in certain times and places
in the stroy.

Step
2.

Putting the
building blocks together and making a rough draft of the whole thing

--

(nemexar chapters 1-33)

This
is where it all comes together
before making your work presentable to the public.
once you've got a story and your characters you can start building your
rough draft.
its a big pile of papers on which you,ll have quickly scetched out what
you want the whole thing to look like.
(sort of the equivalent of a stroy board in the movie industry.)
once the rought draft complete, use it as a guide to build your
official version (step 3: the production phase).

as you build your rough draft you will most likely be led to modify things
in your story, or reajust the character desing or add something to the
environment in which the story takes place. this is normal. if you let
it happen, your graphic novel will sort of start writing itself. you will
become a witness to a story that want to come out through you.

build your rough draft in multiples of 32 (16/16)

(nemexar chapter inside)

Building
tip:pay close attention to Layout (rythm)

rythm is the way you tell your story. the way you place the pictures and
text on the page to keep your reader hooked

printshops print on big sjheets on mwich they fit 16
pages on one side, 16 on the other

Step
3.

The production
phase (turning your rough draft into something presentable to the public)

--

+

Here things become personal. You can do
all your artwork on a computer. You can do it on paper and then scan
it. You can do it in black and white. You cn do it in color. It's all
up you and what you want the final result to look like.

if you scan your artwork, your images should be in CMYK and at a
least 300 DPI.

Remember: the computer is a touch up tool. Do not expect
the software to hide your mistakes. Make your artwork as perfect as
possible before scanning it.

before you make a major investment in printing
a high quality version of your book, try printing a section of the story
on your home printer (maybe 30 to 50 pages). This will give you an idea
what creating an official version witll be like. Do you find yourself
spending alot of time drawing in the details of the characters? maybe
you need to simplify their design alittle bit. do you find it takes too
much time doing your work in color maybe shift to black and white...

once this home version is done, make the necessary reajustments to your
rough draft, character design and environments before moving on.

image size is important.
build it so the reader can get lost in the picture. it'll help pull the
reader into the story

find out how many copies you need to print vs the amount of money you
need to fork out.